Already end of May, the European Commission published the “Renewed EU Agenda for Higher Education”, a Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and other relevant bodies of the European Union. Its four focus issues are the skills mismatch between graduates and jobs, the role of universities in social divisions, the innovation gap for Higher Education, and the need to improve coherence and efficiency of HE systems.
This shows the increasing importance in Europe to the role of higher education not only for the economy (jobs, innovation) and the tax payer (efficiency), but also in enhancing societal coherence and stability. Diversity and inclusion are seen as crucial themes for Higher Education by the European Commission.